Earth Month

Earth Month takes place in April every year. This month is an opportunity to raise awareness and advocate for change around the issues most impacting our planet.

Earth Day is April 22, and feels especially important this year as we are seeing the impact of climate change in our state.

Environmental health is crucial for all of us. Environmental health equity is a growing and critical area of the environmental health sciences – focusing on characterizing the disproportionate burden of environmental harm among marginalized communities and the related health impacts.

Visit Vermont Department of Health to learn more about climate change and what you can do to take action for a healthier environment.

To learn more about the connection between environmental health and Vermont populations, visit the Vulnerability Indicators webpage.

You can also watch the video that explains how to identify Vermont's vulnerable populations using the Social Vulnerability Index.

Earth Day Talk and Plant Swap

In honor of Earth Day, Elizabeth Sherman, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Emerita, Bennington College will discuss the explanation for the diversity of life on earth: evolution, the most important unifying concept in all of biology.

The event is at The Stowe Free Library, 90 Pond Street, Stowe, on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at 1:00 p.m.

Attendees are encouraged to bring plants to trade!

Earth Day Beach Cleanup

Join the Rozalia Project and partners for an Earth Day Cleanup!

Meet at the at Community Sailing Center, 505 Lake Street, Burlington, at 9:00 a.m. for trash pick up, and then in front of City Hall, 149 Church Street, Burlington, for a trash sort from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Arts Access Summit: Resiliency & Rest

Inclusive Arts Vermont’s Arts Access Summit is a day of learning and conversation on access in the arts featuring disabled artists and accessibility experts.

Now in its second year, the summit will explore how the magic of the arts enhances resiliency and the power of rest as resistance.

The virtual event will take place on May 15, 2024.

Access: This event will have live captioning, verbal descriptions, access doulas to meet needs, and ASL.

For access needs contact Heidi at heidi@inclusiveartsvermont.org or call 802-556-3668.

Clemmons Family Farm: Beneath Our Skin

Clemmons Family Farm invites you to visit the COVID-19 vaccination storytelling and art exhibit. You can view the exhibit online or at one of three locations throughout the state.

Through the curation of a selection of personal stories, the exhibit shares the spectrum of emotions experienced by Black Vermonters during the height of the global pandemic.

The Beneath Our Skin COVID-19 Vaccination Storytelling and Art Exhibit is made possible through funding by the Vermont Department of Health.

Exhibit dates and times are as follows:

• April 10 to May 10, 2024 at the Community Gallery Space in the South Burlington Library, 180 Market Street, South Burlington.

• April 12 to May 15, 2024 at the Root Social Justice Center, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro.

• Sundays, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., May 19 to June 16, 2024 at Clemmons Family Farm Authentica Gallery, 2190 Greenbush Road, Charlotte.

Hunger Action Conference

The Foodbank’s annual Hunger Action Conference is designed to bring together community partners, local non-profits, state representatives, and other advocates to creatively address the issues of hunger in our state.

The conference will be May 3, 2024 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Killington Grand Resort Hotel.

View breakout sessions and register online on the Vermont Foodbank website.

Spring Community Education Series

The Marna and Stephen Wise Tulin Spring Community Education Series is free and open to the public and offers timely educational sessions and dialogue on a variety of current topics related to mental health, substance use, and developmental needs.

The sessions include presentations, film screenings, and panel discussions and are always followed by the opportunity for discussion and Q & A.

The last session of the series is called Substance Use and Our Community and will be on May 2, 2024 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 1 Howard Street in Burlington.

Health Equity Tip: Create a psychologically safe work environment. 

A psychologically safe workspace or environment is one where people can feel safe and free to ask questions, make mistakes, and share ideas and concerns without the fear of punishment or humiliation.

Amy Edmondson, the organizational behavioral scientist who coined the phrase, says psychological safety is “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.”

This allows team members to feel comfortable being themselves while forming necessary attachments to co-workers and the work being done. This sense of safety can be harder for those with under-represented identities.

When someone doesn’t feel safe at work to challenge ideas or present their own, then they are more likely to not contribute valuable skills to a project or will decide to leave the organization.

Conflicts and differences of opinions will still exist, but in a psychologically safe work environment, trust and respect between colleagues also exists.

To get a better understanding of how to create a psychologically safe environment, watch Amy Edmondson’s TED Talk. You can also read the article from the American Psychological Association titled What is psychological safety at work? Here’s how to start creating it.

The article lists examples of how leaders, employees, and organizations can begin to build a better, more inclusive and safe culture at work.